


Strange Things Did Happen Here

by HelgaHeason



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Post-Doctor Strange (2016), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 13:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18917713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelgaHeason/pseuds/HelgaHeason
Summary: In the wake of Dormammu, Kaecilius and Doctor Strange’s sudden disappearances, the news wants to know where they went.What Strange doesn’t want the news to know, is why he’s hiding.





	Strange Things Did Happen Here

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea - what if Strange knew what was going to happen, Mordo stuck around for a while longer, and they both informed Tony of their impending demises?  
> This fic came from that.
> 
> Although the Endgame spoiler ban was lifted a few weeks ago, there are no Endgame spoilers in this fic, as it is set inbetween Doctor Strange and Infinity War.
> 
> The song I used at the end, because I couldn’t help myself, is “The Hanging Tree”, from The Hunger Games.

For a while, the news had nothing to report on the unexplained disappearance of the men in robes - one in blue robes with a cool-looking red cloak, one in orangeish robes with bleeding eyes - nor on the weird-looking planet-like being that demanded fear as its food. They just seemed to... Vanish. Into thin air. Some people said they were hallucinations; that they were never really there. Some others said that maybe they were guardian angels. A few, whose smiles seemed strange and eyes seemed to have aged beyond their actual physical age, said they were sorcerers. But the news and the average citizen disputed this - magic wasn’t real. Sorcerers didn’t exist. Maybe the disappeared were cosplayers. That seemed like a far more likely explanation than magic.  
But, then, how did they explain the sudden vanishing of the planet-like being? What happened to it? Where did it go? Did the men in robes have something to do with it - and if they did, was it at all possible that maybe... Just maybe... Magic did exist?

And then one day, a reporter found a building named 177A Bleecker Street, apparently the home of Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange, the alleged Sorcerer Supreme. He walked in, quietly, and stopped by the door, noticing two figures at the side - one in blue robes with a cool-looking red cloak, and one in green robes. The green robed man looked harassed.  
“Stephen, this is dangerous--”  
The blue robed man looked just as harassed, if not also a little agitated.  
“Is it? Do you have a better idea?”  
The green robed man scoffed.  
“You can’t just hand over the Stone to Thanos!”  
The one apparently named ‘Stephen’, the blue robed man, dropped his voice to a mere whisper, and the reporter had to strain to hear what he was saying. Who the hell was Thanos?  
“What else am I supposed to do? Watch good people die as Thanos destroys the universe in his conquest for the Stones?”  
What the hell were the Stones, and why did this Thanos want them? The reporter blinked a few times, and then listened in again, as the green robed man spoke once more.  
“If he already has all the others, then the universe is screwed anyway. And, may I remind you, you made an oath to protect this Stone with your life.”  
Stephen sighed. The green robed man just seemed to get more riled up.  
“Strange, I swear to god--”  
The reporter gasped, and both men turned around.

The news that day was full of the reporter’s findings, about whoever this Thanos was and whatever these Stones were - but nowhere did the news mention the truth about Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange. The news couldn’t mention him if nobody knew, right? A simple mind trickery spell and the reporter forgot he’d seen Stephen and Mordo, but remembered what had been said about Thanos and the Stones. It was a warning to the people as much as it was to the Avengers. A warning that although strange things had already happened, stranger things were going to happen. Thanos was coming, and there wasn’t a thing anyone could do to prevent it. All they could do was what they always did - hope. Hope that perhaps the Titan would be merciful.

**_Strange things did happen here_**  
Tony sighed as Stephen attempted to explain the situation.  
“There’s this alien named Thanos, he wants to collect all the Stones. For what, I’m not yet sure of. But we know that if he gets them all, then he’s going to raise hell. Or destroy the world. One of the two.”  
**_No stranger would it be_**  
Tony sighed again, and looked at the news. Stephen was right, of course he was, but he didn’t want to think about that. A Mad Titan, coming to destroy earth in this twisted quest to correct the universe? Didn’t he have enough to deal with already?  
**_If we met, at midnight_**  
The wind outside howled on, the moon rising, as the trio made plans. If Thanos didn’t already have all the Stones, Stephen would give him the green one he had, in an attempt to drive him away from earth. If he did have all the Stones, then the Avengers would fight like hell to make sure he didn't get Stephen’s.  
**_In the hanging tree_**  
The wind howled louder, and somewhere in space, Thanos smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Doctor Strange Biocomm Committee on Twitter, which I am a part of!
> 
> Come follow us:  
> \- @DocStrangeBio   
> (Use the hashtag #DoctorStrangeBio to join in the fun!)
> 
> I’m on Twitter and I take fic commissions, DM me here:  
> \- [Helga Heason](https://twitter.com/HelgaHeason)
> 
> Help support my work by buying me a coffee here:  
> \- [Helga Heason Ko-Fi](https://ko-fi.com/helgaheason)


End file.
